Steps for railway and street cars.



M. BECK.

STEPS FOR RAILWAY AND STREET CARS.

APPLICATION FILED AP R. I0, 1914.

Patented Jan.18, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- Wm $116 fiea THE COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. C.

M. BECK. STEPS FOR RAILWAY AND STREET CARS.

APPLICATION FILED-APR.10: I914.

Patented Jan. 18, 1916. I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE COLUMBIA- PLANOGRAPH 60-, WAI HINUTON, D. c.

MAE BECK, OF PERRY, IOWA.

STEPS FOR RAILWAY AND STREET CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 18, 1916.

Application filed April 10, 1914. Serial No. 830,956.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, MAE Been, a citizen of the United States, residing at Perry, in the county of Dallasand State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steps for Railway and Street Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in steps for railway and street cars and has for its object to provide steps that may be folded under the car when not in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a folding stair that may be thrown into or out of position by means of a lever.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a stair formed of lazy tongs.

With the above and other objects in view I have invented the device illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1, is an end view of my device attached to the fragment of a car. Fig. 2, is a section on line AA of Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a side elevation of a fragment of a car partly in section showing my invention in operative position, Fig. eL is a top plan view of the device shown partly broken away, and Fig. 5, is a detail top plan view of a step member.

Like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the following specification and in the several views in the drawings in which 1, indicates acar having a platform 2, beneath which is rotatably mounted a rod 3, upon which is fixedly suspended levers 4, which are pivoted to the ends 5 and 6, of the lazy tong members 7 and 8, which are integrally connected by the step 9. The step 10, which is fixed on a plane with the platform 2, has the upper ends 11, of the lazy tong members 12, pivoted thereto. The cen' tral portion of said members 12, are pivoted at 13, to the central portion of the members 7, and the lower portions let thereof, are pivoted to the ends 15, of the members 16. which support the step 17 All of the other steps 18 and 19, are similarly formed and connected together by the members 20, 20 and 21.

Fixedly mounted upon the rod 3, is a lever 22, slidable in the guide members 28, and by operating this lever, the lazy tong will be extended or collapsed to throw the steps into or out of operative position.

By means of my invention, the platform of a car, no matter how high from the ground may be easily accessible by any desired number of steps, the rises of which are of such a height as to iiiake comfortable steps for those ascending to the platform. Although the steps when in operative position may extend out beyond the sides of the car, when they are collapsed to the inoperative position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, they come within the plane of the car sides and below the platform 2.

Having now described my invention, what I claim to be new and desire to procure by Letters Patent is:

A device of the kind described comprising a horizontal support forming a top step, a rod'passing through said support at opposite ends, a plurality of steps arranged in lazy-tongs fashion, said top step being cut away to provide a downwardly extending wall, said steps having pivotal suspension levers disposed vertically, the uppermost of said suspension levers being fulcrumed upon said upper step at its forward end, actuating arms pivotally connected to one of said plurality of steps and being fixedly secured to the projecting ends of said rod whereby to turn with the latter, said actuating arms arranged to swing in said cut-away portion, a lever secured to said rod at its end and adapted to rotate it, a segment fixed upon said upper step, and a guiding arm on said segment between which and said segment said lever moves. 7

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MAE BECK.

Witnesses C. C. WATERS, W. E. Darren.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

